Is Square losing their touch? (Now with Major Spoilers)

[Dalton]

Is it any surprise that he's spawned an internet cult?

Kefka? No, not a surprise at all. He did have the videogame one, after all (for which they had one of THE MOST BAD ASS cult-like themes EVER).

Now, a power droid in Star Wars having a cult...

Oh, I ran into the Gonk cult a looong time ago. Thems are creepy folks.

[RogueIce]

Oh, I ran into the Gonk cult a looong time ago. Thems are creepy folks.

Yep. I had the website bookmarked on my old computer.

"Gonk gonk."

SirNitram: At least two gamers out of millions hated FFVIII's draw.

[Ghost Rider]

Eh...might as well.

FF1(original): The fun buggy mess...wherein four Blackbelts dominate the game.

FF1(Origins): Fun game...though sad that fighter/Monk are better then mages still unless you play on Easy

FF2(original): BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA there aren't word for how screwed this game was.

FF2(Origins) sorta sad to see most of the SAME FLAWS still there.

FF3: Good game....sigh

FF4(Hard/Easy/whatever): Eh...level to win. Story wasn't bad for the time.

FF5: Not too bad honestly though could've used more

FF6: My fave...mostly because of Locke and Kefka. First one of the batch I truly loved the music.

FF7: Good music, fun game...overrated. Sorry Sephy is still a pansy long haired bitch who's biggest contribution was killing some whiny girl.

FF8: Not bad...only problem I had was the infamous orphanage scene(aka Oh wow so we're all what again?). Nice score

FF9: Fun game...a little slow, but enjoyed it much more then FF8...though the SD look was eh at times.

FF10: Enjoyed it almost as much as FF6

CT: Fun.....fantastic score...only was alittle eh on the easy side once you powered up correctly.

CC: Oi...Great score, great cinemas...too many charatcers and never gave a damn about most of them.

FFT: My fave...hands down one of their best stories...great score. A little chessy on the difficulty.

FFTA: Fun game...a little chessy on the difficuly, story isn't as grand as FFT, but many things to do.

[RogueIce]

FF7: Good music, fun game...overrated. Sorry Sephy is still a pansy long haired bitch who's biggest contribution was killing some whiny girl.

But you gotta admit...the cutscenes and music involved in that part were absolutely badass.

[Ghost Rider]

FF7: Good music, fun game...overrated. Sorry Sephy is still a pansy long haired bitch who's biggest contribution was killing some whiny girl.

But you gotta admit...the cutscenes and music involved in that part were absolutely badass.

The music...yes was nice.

The cutscene, for the time worked...now not really.

Still overall does nothing for me that the two mains were fighting for which was better to please a woman...length or girth.

[Ghost Rider]

And oh yes...on some others.

SaGa Frontier...1&2.

1: Sorry it literally blows...I bet everything because at the time I was bored and had nothing else to do...then well got a girlfriend.

2: Good story...beyond stupid bullshit cheese difficulty at points for no reason then the people who made the game are morons.

Vagrant Story: fun but repetitive game.

FFA: Fun game...a little easy.

Secret of Mana: fun multi

Seiken Densetsu 3: So sue me...I've never perfectly spelled it...but the few who know what I speak of...agree with this sentiment: Square get off your ass and translate this game for here...you give us Saga yet not this...are you fucking high?!

One last grip though of FFT:A...Avoiding Magic....oi fucking vey...gee computer it say 23%...but you've avoided that spell for th last 3 rounds......23% my ass.

[Grand Admiral Ancaris]

FF4: Good game, I liked it.

FF5: I liked it. Exdeath has one of the best themes ever, right up there with Kefka's.

FF6: Greatest game ever, Period. Simply wonderful all the way through. I wish they'd redo it with PS2 graphics.... that would be so unbelieveably sweet. Mark Hamill as the voice of Kefka.. oh yes I could see this. It could work very well.

These three above are the best of the FF games, the crown jewels. After them they never quite measured up in my mind.

FF7: This has got to be the single most overrated game in history.

FF8: Three gamers out of millions hate the draw system.

I have one last thing to say, and that is: ALL HAIL KEFKA!!!

[RogueIce]

The music...yes was nice.

The cutscene, for the time worked...now not really.

Still overall does nothing for me that the two mains were fighting for which was better to please a woman...length or girth.

Well, you have to base it off what they could do at the time. Modern cutscenes will probably blow it away, but at the time it was kickass.

And your last comment...that's just funny as Hell.

Secret of Mana: fun multi

That had some kind of multiplayer (SNES game, right?)?

At any rate, I loved that game. It was cool, what with you can see the swords and stuff, making them Ice/Fire/Lightning/etc. swords was cool. And it had some of the best (IOW, saddest) "sad theme" music of all time, IMO (at least for any game on the SNES).

[Kuja]

FF2(original): BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA there aren't word for how screwed this game was.

FF2(Origins) sorta sad to see most of the SAME FLAWS still there.

FF2 saddened me. It was a game with a great story that was ruined by such a crappy level-up system and an equally shitty magic system.

[Typhonis 1]

FF8 Draw system Sucks

[Joe]

FF8 Draw system Sucks

If you hate micromanagement, sure. I personally loved the Draw/Junction system.

[Cyborg Stan]

I also didn't like the draw system. I suppose that one could fix it slightly by limiting the amount that one could get from one enemy. (Which would turn the battle system into a magic-poor system, which would mean that one would have to be more careful in using it.) As it stands, the optimal way to use it tends to be standing around in each new area for about an hour gathering new magic from one bad guy. (While one might argue that this is more the player's fault, I may point out that there's no monster out there that would have an infinite amount of items to steal from.)

As for the other magic systems :

FF6 had a combined stat-raising, spell-learning, and single use summons. Considering that the Espers play a good role in the plot....

FF7's materia system I thought was pretty interesting, but with one flaw that would probably turn most people off - there's no real distinction between characters. You more or less choose who's in your party simply by looks. Otherwise, you have to choose your weapons and armor carefully - the number of slots, the number of linked slots, the growth, and even whether you put the materia in the weapon or the armor. Very interesting and powerful effects are made depending on which support materia you have, etc.

FF2(j)'s system while interesting and makes alot of sense, is also insanely hard. There's also the tendancy for you to beat up on your own characters.

FF5 - The job/class system is interesting and verstiale, allowing for potent and unusual combinations, but unlike the materia system each character still would have definate specialities.

[Sriad]

By the way, it's actually spelled "Cefca."

And the millennium started in 2001. Whatever...

[Kuja]

FF2(j)'s system while interesting and makes alot of sense, is also insanely hard. There's also the tendancy for you to beat up on your own characters.

The irritating thing about FF2's magic system was that once your magic leveled up, you could never cast the lower-level spell again without buying a new scroll. That pissed me off to no end.

[Cyborg Stan]

Never noticed that. Then again, when I mean 'insanely hard', I mean that I never got around to getting past the second town.

[Vendetta]

I also didn't like the draw system. I suppose that one could fix it slightly by limiting the amount that one could get from one enemy. (Which would turn the battle system into a magic-poor system, which would mean that one would have to be more careful in using it.) As it stands, the optimal way to use it tends to be standing around in each new area for about an hour gathering new magic from one bad guy. (While one might argue that this is more the player's fault, I may point out that there's no monster out there that would have an infinite amount of items to steal from.)

I liked the draw system.

Largely because I was extremely good at abusing it.

It takes, at most, ten minutes to draw everything new from an area, you make sure your magic is as high as possible, and you'll be drawing 9 spells a shot.

Draw makes it very quick to achieve absurd levels of power, and if you use St-Atk-J with 100xDrain, you will always heal yourself every time you attack the enemy.

By the end of disc 1 of FFVIII, it's quite plausible for your party to be functionally invincible.

At the end of the game, my party could beat the last boss with her only taking six turns over all four of her forms.

[RedImperator]

I'm probably the only person in the world who liked IV better than VI. Not that I didn't like VI by any stretch of the imagination, but something about IV's story drew me in deeper than any other game before or since.

I never got into the 32 bit Final Fantasies. For that matter, the entire 32 bit era marked a low point in my gaming life. There's practically no games from that era that I look back upon and think, "Wow, THAT'S a game I'll play no matter how dated it gets". It's gotten better since, but as far as I'm concerned, the late eight-bit/early sixteen bit era was the golden age of gaming.[/nostalgia]

[SirNitram]

I'm probably the only person in the world who liked IV better than VI. Not that I didn't like VI by any stretch of the imagination, but something about IV's story drew me in deeper than any other game before or since.

I can understand that, but I felt so cheated by IV's 'Oh, everyone's really alive and okay' near the end.

[The Dark]

What about other RPGs? I like the original Dragon Warrior (remembering the era in which it was made...by today's standards it's simplistic), I believe Dragon Warrior II was the first RPG with multiple characters, and Chrysalis was a fun Zelda-like RPG. For "modern" ones, my current favorite is still Wild Arms Advanced Third (aka Wild Arms 3).

[SirNitram]

What about other RPGs? I like the original Dragon Warrior (remembering the era in which it was made...by today's standards it's simplistic), I believe Dragon Warrior II was the first RPG with multiple characters, and Chrysalis was a fun Zelda-like RPG. For "modern" ones, my current favorite is still Wild Arms Advanced Third (aka Wild Arms 3).

I only played the original Dragon Warrior, and the incredible tedium got to me. Le sigh.

[Ghost Rider]

What about other RPGs? I like the original Dragon Warrior (remembering the era in which it was made...by today's standards it's simplistic), I believe Dragon Warrior II was the first RPG with multiple characters, and Chrysalis was a fun Zelda-like RPG. For "modern" ones, my current favorite is still Wild Arms Advanced Third (aka Wild Arms 3).

Actually FF1 I believe came out before DQ2(DW2).

But aside from that my biggest problem with the Dragon Warrior serios is that some of them have been crap, others decent...but it's fueled by more hype then FF...in Japan.

DW1 was boring and mindless...DW2...was basically a party formatted DW1.

DW3...at least wasn't as tedious. DW4...I liked and hated(some of the parties they gave you I disliked).

DW5-6 weren't bad and probably the hightlights of the series.

DW7...blew. Sorry anything that looks like my SNES level and is some 150 hours of the same tedium irked me. With the SNES DW's...I could accept the graphics and at least were better story then DW7...somewhat okay but way overdrawn story.

DW8 looks honestly a step in the right direction.

And of the Wild Arms I enjoyed 1+3...would've liked 2 more if it wasn't so piss poorly translated. And they're remaking WA1, so who knows.

[The Dark]

What about other RPGs? I like the original Dragon Warrior (remembering the era in which it was made...by today's standards it's simplistic), I believe Dragon Warrior II was the first RPG with multiple characters, and Chrysalis was a fun Zelda-like RPG. For "modern" ones, my current favorite is still Wild Arms Advanced Third (aka Wild Arms 3).

Actually FF1 I believe came out before DQ2(DW2).

DQ2 (DW2) came out January 1987. Final Fantasy 1 came out December of '87 (both dates are for the Japanese releases).

And of the Wild Arms I enjoyed 1+3...would've liked 2 more if it wasn't so piss poorly translated. And they're remaking WA1, so who knows.

I haven't played 1 or 2, though I might get 1 if it's still at the used game store when my paycheck comes through.

[Ghost Rider]

DQ2 (DW2) came out January 1987. Final Fantasy 1 came out December of '87 (both dates are for the Japanese releases).

Cool.

As for WA1...it's fun and is interesting game all of itself. Still WA3 has by far the most profuse Wild Wet theme(they all sort of have it...but 1&2 have in passing versus WA3's entire game being literally Western based)

[Vendetta]

Wild Arms is a great series.

The first one, despite not having a single original byte in it's code, (well, except for the massive profusion of statuses and the Force attacks) is a massively charming game.

The remake will, if they bother releasing it over here, definitely be bought. (I hope they've used the WA3 ammo system for ARMs though)

[Trogdor]

FF4: A good game, I enjoyed it.

FF5: all right, but I liked 4 a little more.

FF6: One of Square's greatest achievements. The characters were great (Locke: call me a treasure hunter or I'll rip your lungs out! ) Kefka was the most bad ass villian ever.

FF7: Yes, it was overrated, but not by that much. It was the first to go 3-D, had a very good, deep story, and mostly likeable characters (I still hate that little materia stealing bitch!). I liked the materia system, much simpler than a lot of what Square's used on other games. Seph is as close to Kefka's level of greatness as Square ever got after 6. He wasn't quite as good because a) he whined a lot before he went insane b) unlike Kefka, he didn't succeed in screwing over the world for power c) After Aeris's little stunt in Wall Market, I actually wanted her to die. But he was the final boss, and Cloud did beat the hell out of him appropriatlty.

FF8: I hated this. Squall, the draw system, the insanely complicated system of junctioning, the fact that levels didn't matter, the fact that almost all the heroes had the same backround. I could go on and on. Only two pluses in this game: the card minigame, and the fact that Squall's the first 3-D FF hero to not be blond.

FF9: I enjoyed this quite a bit. Zidane could get annoying, but overall I thought the game was good. Vivi blasting Black Waltz #3 was the greatest cut scene ever. Kuja would've been a better villian if he didn't look like a girl.

FFT: a very good game, though I think the story left something to be desired. SPOILER: It just pissed me off that while you gave save the world your friend goes and marries the princess.

CT: Up there with FF6 as far as I'm concerned. A very good cast of characters, a great story, what Lavos lacked in villiany Magus had. The concept of travelling through time and altering history, even the future, was great.

CC: gameplay and graphics were good, but the story lacked and I don't think it should've been connected to CT. I wasn't pleased when I found out that the main heroes of CT had died in their 30s, less pleased to find that Guardia Kingdom had been conquered by wussy little Porre, not thrilled to discover that there was no time travel except for that short jump into the past to save Kid and that you couldn't go to any of the places where you'd been in CT. If Chrono Break kills Serge, I swear I will never buy another Chrono game.